Manila: Famous Filipino sculptor, Jerusalino “Jerry” Araos, 68, a former member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in the early 1970s who metamorphosed, after several years of imprisonment, into a sculptor of poetic torsos, artisanal chairs and functional products, died of heart attack while undergoing dialysis at a hospital in suburban Quezon City in the afternoon of December 23, family sources said.

After he had a heart attack at 12 noon on Friday, he was placed at the intensive care unit of the Capital Medical Centre. “Then he started debating with family members that we should continue cooking for guests whom he invited for Christmas on December 25. He wanted us to celebrate while he was recuperating at the hospital,” said his eldest daughter Waya Wichangco.

Araos, known for his beautifully sculptured torsos, called “almost classic-like but profoundly modern,” was also adept in making sculptural functional works, like symphonic tables, grand chairs, undulating seesaws and other toys, with his signature style of creating beautiful pieces and hiding political statements.

Araos was also known for his hedonistic zest for life, celebrating parties at his wide garden with a pond, at posh Fairmount Subdivision in suburban Antipolo, with family members and artist friends.

“He did not want a wake held for him. He did not like anything funeral attached to his going. He kept telling us this while he was still alive,” said his eldest daughter.

Family members opted to keep his body temporarily refrigerated for two days, prior to private cremation rites on December 26, and a memorial at his garden in Antipolo, the main witness of how lavish Aroas lived his life, and how giving he was with family and friends.

“It was as if he did not really go away,” said a friend.

He had diabetes almost 19 years ago, and started undergoing dialysis five years ago. In December 2011, he fell from the second storey of his house that he was designing in Antipolo.

At the time, the accident almost prevented him to push through with his art exhibit on “the essence of mother and child” at Crucible Gallery in suburban Mandaluyong in December 2011.

He failed to attend his art opening, but he survived the trauma which also exacerbated his clogged arteries.

At the time, he refused to undertake a heart bypass operation. In early November this year, he opened an art exhibit of LGBT (lesbian-gay, bisexual, and transgender) — sensitive torsos also at Crucible Gallery.

“It was a secret show,” he said then, because his LGBT-sensitive torsos were kept at the gallery’s backroom, while his sculptured chairs took centre stage — at the main gallery.

The beautifully made LGBT-sensitive torsos included depictions of the metamorphosis of the cocoon, pupa, and butterfly, to symbolise “beautiful transitions,” said Araos who refused to judge LGBT’s.

“This kind of attribute to LGBTs should be done, for the sake of peerage (and to do away with judgement,” he added then. Araos, himself a straight, was even dubbed as a macho Filipino artist.

Ever since he became an artist in the early 1980s, he entered the art scene as “a provocative and profound sculptor,” art critics said.

He is survived by his wife, Dr Melen Araos, six children and grandchildren.